Once upon a time, there lived a poor man in a small village. After getting married, he lived happily with his wife for some time.

A few days after their marriage, the man told his wife:

“I am going away to another place to do business. I will return exactly one year from today.”

With those words, he left the village and went away to earn a living.

Meanwhile, his wife stayed alone at home. Every morning, after bathing and getting ready, she would walk to the local market to buy vegetables.

A wealthy man also visited the same market every day in his car. He began noticing the woman on her daily trips.

One day, he approached her and said politely:

“Come, I’ll drop you home.”

“No, thank you. I can walk home myself,” she replied.

“Don’t be afraid. My house is in the next lane. I’ll drop you safely at your doorstep.”

The woman eventually agreed and got into his car.

The man drove her home safely, dropped her in front of her house, and left.

After that, it became a daily routine.

One day, the wealthy man politely said to her:

“Why don’t you have a cup of tea before you leave?”

The woman accepted his invitation.

Over time, she began having meals at his house as well. Gradually, they developed feelings for each other.

Eventually, the relationship resulted in the birth of a beautiful baby boy.

The woman kept the child at the wealthy man’s house. Every day, she would visit once, lovingly feed the child milk, spend some time with him, and then return home.

Then one year passed.

The day her husband was supposed to return finally arrived.

The husband came back home.

However, the wife was so worried about her son that she could hardly concentrate on what her husband was saying. Seeing her disturbed and unhappy, the husband asked:

“Tell me honestly. What has happened?”

The wife told him everything and explained that she desperately missed the child.

Her husband calmly replied:

“He is your child. Go and bring him home.”

The woman went to the wealthy man’s house and said:

“My husband has returned. I have come to take my son back.”

But the wealthy man refused.

“No. I will not give you the child. He is mine.”

The woman and her husband both demanded that the child be returned to them, while the wealthy man insisted that the child belonged to him.

Unable to resolve the dispute, the matter was taken to court.

All three appeared before the judge and presented their arguments.

The Husband’s Argument

The husband said:

“When I got married, I owned a piece of farmland. I left the village to conduct business and told my wife that I would return when it was time to sow the fields.

“But I could not return on time.

“So my wife asked another man to sow the field for her. Now imagine that the person who sowed the field claims that the entire crop belongs to him simply because he did the sowing.

“Would that be fair?

“The land belongs to me, so the crop produced from my land belongs to me. The person who sowed the field may ask for payment for his work, but he cannot claim ownership of the crop.

“Likewise, this child belongs to me and my wife. Another man may have been involved, but that does not make the child his.”

The Wealthy Man’s Argument

The wealthy man then presented his argument:

“One day, while walking down the road, I found an empty box lying there.

“I looked around, but I could not find its owner. The box was beautiful, so I picked it up.

“I had a diamond in my pocket, so I placed the diamond inside that box.

“The next day, a man came to me and said that the box belonged to him.

“I returned the box to him, but I took the diamond back because I was the one who had put it there.

“Now that man demands the diamond as well.

“But why should I give it to him? The box was his, but the diamond was mine.

“In the same way, the child may have been born to the woman, but I am the one who gave the child his existence. Therefore, the child should belong to me.”

The Wife’s Argument

Finally, the wife presented her argument:

“When I got married, my father gave me a buffalo.

“The buffalo produced milk.

“One day, I did not have any starter culture to make curd, so I borrowed a small amount of curd culture from my neighbor.

“I used that starter to set the milk into curd. Then I churned the curd and made ghee.

“Now suppose my neighbor claims that the ghee belongs to him simply because I used his starter culture.

“Would that be right?

“The milk belonged to me. The buffalo belonged to me. The ghee came from my milk.

“My neighbor only provided a small amount of starter culture. He can ask for payment for it, but he cannot claim ownership of the ghee.

“Similarly, this child belongs to me and my husband. The man who was involved only contributed something small; that does not give him ownership of my child.”

The judge listened carefully to all three arguments.

The husband had a convincing argument.

The wealthy man had another convincing argument.

And the wife had an equally convincing argument.

After hearing all three sides, the judge reportedly became so confused by the logic that he decided to renounce worldly life and become a monk!

And so, the question remained unanswered:

Who should get the child?

The husband?

The wealthy man?

Or the mother?

What do you think is the right answer?

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